Frequently Asked Questions

No, you are not being sued.

The Class Action alleges that under ERISA, the Defendants owed fiduciary duties of care and prudence to the Plan and that they violated those duties in connection with the selection and monitoring of the Plan’s service providers. During the Class Period, participants in the Plan were able to allocate their account balances among various investment funds. Named Plaintiffs allege that the Plan had substantial bargaining power regarding the fees and expenses that were charged. Specifically, Named Plaintiffs allege Defendants failed to prudently monitor the recordkeeping fees charged to Plan participants. Recordkeeping in simple terms refers to the suite of administrative services provided to retirement plan participants that generally includes provision of account statements to participants.

Defendants deny all the claims and allegations made in the Class Action and deny that they ever engaged in any wrongful conduct. If the Class Action were to continue, the Defendants would continue to assert numerous defenses to liability, including:

• Defendants did not engage in any of the allegedly improper conduct charged in the Complaint;
• Defendants reasonably and prudently managed the Plan’s administrative fees, as well as all recordkeeping fees, and fulfilled all of their fiduciary obligations;
• As part of its reasonable and prudent process to manage the Plan, Defendants retained professional investment consultants to help ensure that the Plan’s fees and expenses were reasonable;
• As part of its reasonable and prudent process to manage the Plan, Defendants monitored the Plan’s recordkeeping fees;
• Even if a court were to determine that Defendants failed to discharge any duty under ERISA, any such breach of fiduciary duty did not cause the Plan or its participants to suffer any loss.

You are a member of the Settlement Class if you fall within the definition of the Settlement Class preliminarily approved by the Honorable John W. Holcomb:

All persons who participated in the Plan with account balances at any time during the period from June 13, 2016 through January 1, 2025 (“Class Period”), including any Beneficiary of a deceased Person who participated in the Plan and had an account balance at any time during the Class Period, and any Alternate Payee of a Person subject to a QDRO who participated in the Plan and had an account balance at any time during the Class Period. Excluded from the Settlement Class are Defendants and their Beneficiaries, any Plan fiduciaries, and the Judges assigned to this case.

As in any litigation, all parties face an uncertain outcome. On the one hand, continuation of the case against the Defendants could result in a judgment greater than this Settlement. On the other hand, continuing the case could result in Plaintiffs obtaining no recovery at all or obtaining a recovery that is less than the amount of the Settlement. Based on these factors, the Named Plaintiffs and Class Counsel have concluded that the proposed Settlement is in the best interests of all Settlement Class members.

Provided that the Settlement becomes final, a Settlement Fund consisting of $1,400,000 will be established in the Class Action. The amount of money that will be allocated among members of the Settlement Class, after the payment of any taxes and Court-approved costs, fees, and expenses, including attorneys’ fees and expenses of Class Counsel, any Court-approved Service Payments to be paid to the Named Plaintiffs, and payment of expenses incurred in calculating the Settlement payments and administering the Settlement, is called the Net Settlement Amount. The Net Settlement Amount will not be known until these other amounts are quantified and deducted. The Net Settlement Amount will be allocated to members of the Settlement Class according to a Plan of Allocation to be approved by the Court. The Plan of Allocation describes how Settlement payments will be distributed to Settlement Class members who receive a payment.

If the Settlement is approved by the Court, all Settlement Class members and anyone claiming through them shall be deemed to fully release the Released Parties from the Released Claims.

You are not required to calculate the amount you may be entitled to receive under the Settlement as the Settlement Administrator will do so under the Plan of Allocation. In general, your proportionate share of the Settlement will be calculated as follows:

• First, the Settlement Administrator will obtain balances for each Settlement Class member in their Plan accounts as of December 31, 2016, and on December 31 of each subsequent year of the Class Period up to and including December 31, 2024. Each Class Member’s account balances for each year of the Class Period based on the account balances as of these dates will be summed. This summed amount will be that Class Member’s “Balance.”
• Second, the Balance for all Class Members will be summed.
• Third, each Class Member will receive a share of the Net Settlement Amount in proportion to the sum of that Class Member’s Balance as compared to the sum of the Balance for all Class Members, i.e., where the numerator is the Class Member’s Balance and the denominator is the sum of all Class Members’ Balances.
• The amounts resulting from this initial calculation will be known as the “Preliminary Entitlement Amount.” Class Members who are entitled to a distribution of less than $10.00 will receive a distribution of $10.00 (the “De Minimis Amount”) from the Net Settlement Amount.  In other words, the Settlement Administrator shall progressively increase Class Members’ awards falling below the De Minimis Amount until the lowest participating Class Member award is the De Minimis Amount, i.e. $10.00.  The resulting calculation shall be the “Final Entitlement Amount” for each Class Member. The sum of the Final Entitlement Amount for each Class Member will equal the dollar amount of the Net Settlement Amount.

You do not need to file a claim. If you currently have a positive account balance in the Plan and are a Settlement Class Member, any share of the Net Settlement Amount to which you are entitled will be deposited into your Plan account. Former Participants will be paid directly by the Settlement Administrator by check.

All such payments are intended by the Settlement Class to be “restorative payments” in accordance with Internal Revenue Service Revenue Ruling 2002-45. Checks issued to Former Participants pursuant to this paragraph shall be valid for 180 days from the date of issue. If you are a former Plan participant and have not provided the Plan with your current address, please contact the Settlement Administrator by mail or email (address updates need to be in writing).

Each Class Member who receives a payment under this Settlement Agreement shall be fully and ultimately responsible for payment of any and all federal, state, or local taxes resulting from or attributable to the payment received by such person.

The Court has appointed Robert Ahdoot and Andrew W. Ferich of Ahdoot & Wolfson, PC, and Erich P. Schork of Roberts Law Firm, US, PC, as Class Counsel for the Named Plaintiffs in the Class Action. You will not be charged directly by these lawyers. If you want to be represented by your own lawyer, you may hire one at your own expense.

You do not have the right to exclude yourself from the Settlement. The Settlement Agreement provides for certification of the Settlement Class as a non-opt-out class action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(1), and the Court has preliminarily determined that the requirements of that rule have been satisfied. Thus, it is not possible for any Settlement Class Members to exclude themselves from the Settlement. As a Settlement Class Member, you will be bound by any judgments or orders that are entered in the Class Action for all claims that were or could have been asserted in the Class Action or are otherwise released under the Settlement.

Although you cannot opt out of the Settlement, you can object to the Settlement and ask the Court not to approve it. For detailed information on how to object to the Settlement, see the following question.

If you are a Settlement Class Member, you can object to the Settlement if you do not like any part of it. You can give reasons why you think the Court should not approve it.

To be filed validly, the objection and any notice of intent to participate or supporting documents must be filed at least thirty (30) calendar days prior to the scheduled Final Approval Hearing. All written objections and supporting papers must clearly (a) identify the case name and number; (b) state the Class Member’s full name, current mailing address, and telephone number; (c) contain a statement by the Class Member that he or she believes themself to be a member of the Settlement Class and include proof that the Class Member is a member of the Settlement Class (e.g., copy of the Settlement Notice); (d) identify the specific factual and legal grounds for the objection; (e) identify whether the objection is an objection to the Settlement in part or in whole; (f) state whether the objection applies only to the objector, a subset of the Settlement Class, or the entire Settlement Class; (g) identify all counsel representing the Class Member, if any; (h) include a list, including case name, court, and docket number, of all other cases in which the objector and/or the objector’s counsel has filed an objection to any proposed class action settlement in the past three (3) years; (i) include all documents or writings that the Class Member desires the Court to consider; (j) contain a statement regarding whether the Class Member (or counsel of his or her choosing) intends to appear at the Final Approval Hearing; and (k) contain the signature of the Class Member or the Class Member’s duly authorized attorney or representative.

All objections must be submitted to the Court either by mailing them to the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Ronald Reagan Federal Building and US Courthouse, 411 West 4th Street, Santa Ana, CA, 92701, or by filing them with the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The objection must refer prominently to this case name: Tsui, et al. v. Universal Services of America, LP, et al., No. 8:22-cv-01158-JWH-JDE (C.D. Cal.). All objections must be filed or postmarked on or before the objection deadline, as established in the Preliminary Approval Order. Any Class Member who does not make their objections in the manner and by the date set forth in this paragraph shall be deemed to have waived any objections and shall be forever barred from raising such objections in this or any other action or proceeding, absent further order of the Court.

A copy of your objection must also be provided to Class Counsel and Defense Counsel by email to AlliedERISA@noticeadministrator.com (writing “Allied Universal Settlement” in the subject line) or to the following respective addresses for Class and Defense Counsel:

Class Counsel:
Andrew W. Ferich
AHDOOT & WOLFSON, PC
201 King of Prussia Road, Suite 650
Radnor, PA 19087

Erich P. Schork
ROBERTS LAW FIRM, US, PC
PO Box 31909
Chicago, IL 60631-9998

Defense Counsel:
Richard Pearl
FAEGRE DRINKER BIDDLE & REATH LLP
320 South Canal Street, Suite 3300
Chicago, IL 60606-5707

The Final Approval Hearing currently is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on September 23, 2026, at the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Ronald Reagan Federal Building and US Courthouse, 411 West 4th Street, Santa Ana, CA, 92701, Courtroom 9D, before the Hon. John W. Holcomb, or such other courtroom as the Court may designate.

At that hearing, the Court will consider whether the Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate. If there are objections, the Court will consider them. The Court will also rule on the motions for attorneys’ fees and reimbursement of expenses and for Service Payments for the Named Plaintiffs. The Settling Parties do not know how long these decisions will take or whether appeals will be filed.

The Court may adjourn the Final Approval Hearing without further notice to the Settlement Class and also may schedule the hearing to be done by telephone or video conference. If you wish to attend, you should confirm the date and time of the Final Approval Hearing with Class Counsel before doing so. You can also check this website, where any updates will be posted.

You may contact the Settlement Administrator at AlliedERISA@noticeadministrator.com, or call 833-667-3987.